Broadway actor Alex Joseph Grayson joins us to talk about his journey with the Tony Award-winning revival of the tragic musical PARADE, which began with the City Center Encores production in 2022. Alex shares how his early life living around the world with his family shaped him as a person and artist, the impact the show has had on audiences, and how he has gained more confidence to impact others in a positive way in the process.
Speaking on his character, a young Black man who is coerced into giving a false testimony that condemns the main character Leo Frank, played by Ben Platt. Grayson spoke on how his character’s storyline and that of the entire show continues to ring true and make an impact today. “My story, historically, is not the focus of this piece. The song A Rumblin’ And A Rollin’ is just a moment in which we say something that’s pretty serious. ‘A Black man swinging from every tree’, those are major implications. But we as a people are desensitized to images in the news of marginalized people dying and being harmed. People don’t bat an eye to that. It’s interesting to have the duality and understand that there is important work, but that commentary is much larger story at how we don’t bat an eye at those specific stories.”
